Making Electoral Democracy Work : Voters , Parties , and the Rules of the Game

Elections and electoral rules matter. Imagine the outcome of the 2000 U.S. presidential election if Nader supporters had voted strategically for Gore rather than voting for their preferred candidate. Imagine the U.S. government’s response to Hurricane Katrina if the voter turnout of poor Americans matched that of their affluent counterparts. It matters whether people vote or not and it matters how they vote. It also matters what the electoral rules of the game are. Imagine how Canadian politics might have unfolded if the distortions in converting votes into seats produced by Canada’s electoral system had not contributed to the near-annihilation of the Progressive Conservative Party and the electoral breakthrough of two regionally-based parties (Reform in the West and the Bloc in Quebec) in the 1993 federal election.